Computer-based reservation systems for travel and transportation are generally known, such as Seaware reservation software, sold by Versonix Corporation, of San Jose, California. Such systems can provide automated solutions for management of reservation inventories for all modes of travel, lodging and transportation, such as airlines, trains, cruise lines, ferries, resorts, cargo shipping, etc. However, such reservation systems are typically configured with remote point-of-sale terminals that rely on a central server to confirm reservation requests and update reservation inventory. While the central server may be located at one of the point-of-sale locations, e.g., at the destination airport, if the connection to the central server is lost for any reason, the ability to book new reservations is interrupted at least at other locations, and therefore only limited functionality is provided at the other point-of-sale locations while connection to the central host is down, such as checking in or issuing tickets on pre-existing reservations. Further, when the remote terminals do reconnect with the central host, some period of time is necessary to resynchronize reservation and inventory data to all POS terminals.
It would therefore be desirable to have a computer-based reservation system that enabled each remote POS terminal to act on its own to actively accept new reservations, and did not rely upon a central server in order to confirm reservation requests and update reservation inventory.